When was the first computer invented?

There is no clear account of the invention of the first computer. Several variants of the computer were developed simultaneously, so it is not easy to track the development of the first computer, and it is confusing to reach a conclusion. Charles Baggage is credited with developing the first mechanical computer in 1822.

Let us discuss various significant events in the development of the first computer.

When was the term computer coined?

The first time the term computer was used by R. Braithwaite in his book The Yong Mans Gleanings, defined the machine that could compute calculations. They could perform additional functions, but the main purpose was to perform the calculation.

The First Mechanical Computer

Charles Babbage developed the first mechanical computer, and it was an automatic machine that could perform computations. Its functions include performing complex calculations on numerical values. It allowed the user to print hard copies of the computational results. Charles Babbage worked with Ada Lovelace to build the first Difference Engine. But due to insufficient funds, Babbage was not able to complete the machine. In 1991, the London Science Museum further developed the Difference Engine 2 and developed a mechanism that allowed the user to print the hard copies of the result.

The first General Purpose Computer

Charles Babbage also proposed the design of the first general mechanical computer. It was called the Analytical Engine, which was somewhat similar to the computers we use today. It had a flow control consisting of an Arithmetic Logical Unit responsible for performing Arithmetic and Logical operations on the operand. It also had an integrated memory. This computer was able to perform basic calculations. Though, Charles Babbage could not complete the development of the machine due to a lack of funds. The development of the machine was continued by his youngest son Henry Babbage.

The concept of the first Programmable Computer

Konrad Zuse was a German developer who developed the Z1 computer in the living room of his parents' house. It was the first computer that operated like modern computers. It is regarded as the first electromechanical computer programmed in binary language.

The Concept behind the First Modern Computer

Alan Turning developed the Turning Machine that formed the basic operational unit for performing computing in any device, including computers. It allowed the machine to print the symbols in a way that generates a reaction from a person by following a series of logical steps. The turning machine was introduced in 1936.

The First Electric Programmable Computer

T. Flowers developed the first electric programmable computer in 1943, and he named the system Colossus. This computer was of great help as it was used to decipher the German messages by the British.

The First Digital Computers

In 1937, Vincent Atanasoff and Cliff Berry began to develop the AB Computer. They started in 1937 and continued working on developing the system until 1942. They used more than 300 vacuum tubes in the system to perform computation digitally. The system could not perform any programming as it had no processing unit.

In 1973 two people named John Mauchly and J. Presper filed the patent for the first digital computer. This computer was fully functional and performed all the computations digitally. The computer was equipped with almost 18,000 vacuum tubes and occupied almost 1800 square feet. It was a quite heavy set-up and almost weighed 50 tons. But their patent was rejected by the US Federal Judge, who ruled that the first digital computer developed was ABC instead of ENIAC. However, many programmers and developers still regard ENIAC as the first fully functional computer.

The First Stored Program Computer

The first computer program is called SSM. It stands for Small-Scale Experimental Machine. It was developed by a teacher Geoff Tootill and his

student T. Kilburn at the University of Manchester. Therefore it is also called the Manchester Baby. It was the first program that could be stored in the computer's memory. The program was stored electronically in the system's memory. The task performed by the program was to compute the highest factor of an integer. The program calculated the number factor by performing repetitive subtraction instead of division. The program was first executed on the computer at the University of Manchester by Tom Kilburn on 21 June 1948.

The Second Stored Program

The Second Stored Program was also developed in England. It was developed at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory. M.Wilkes developed the program. It was first used for computation on 6 May 1949. The program was called EDSAC. Its primary function was to perform calculations, but it was also provided with implementing a tic-tac-toe game. The user can play the game that was displayed on a 6-inch CRT.

One more system was developed that could store the programs and execute the programs. The system's name is Manchester Mark 1. the first version of this stem was developed in 1949 at the Victoria University of Manchester. This system was able to execute software programs stored in the system. It was operated for nine hours without requiring to search for Mersenne primes.

All the computers developed until this time were developed for research and were quite expensive. These systems were not available for commercial use.

The First Commercial Computer

The first time commercial computer was introduced to the market by Konrad Zuse in 1942. The name of the computer was Z4. A mathematician purchased it in 1950.

The First Computer Company

John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert established the first computer company in 1949. The company's name was Electronic Controls Company which was later changed to Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company. This company developed and launched a series of mainframe computers. The mainframe computers were launched under the name UNIVAC.

Th first commercial computer that enabled the user to store the program in the system's memory and was able to execute it was UNIVAC 1101. It was sold to the US Government. IBM introduced its first scientific, commercial computer in April 1953.

There has been no company that had RAM or could display real-time graphics. They had only storage to store limited programs.

The First Computer With Random Access Memory

Whirlwind Machine was the first computer with a magnetic core RAM inside it. It enabled the user to view real-time graphics from the system. MIT built the system in March 1955. This system was a revolutionary invention in the field of computers.

In 1956, TX-0 was introduced at MIT; it was the first transistorized computer. It was the first computer that had transistors instead of tubes. After a few years, another transistorized computer was developed by the Digital Equipment Corporation. It was called the PDP-1 and was launched in 1960 by the company. It was the first minicomputer too.

The First Desktop that was Mass Produced

Olivetti released Programm 101, introduced during the New York World Fair in 1964. It was the first computer that could be mass-produced. The company introduced the computer to the public. The company sold more than 44000 models. It cost around $3200. The computer that was introduced to the market was HP 9100A. Hewlett Packard did the marketing campaign.

The First Workstation

The first workstation was Xerox Alto, also regarded as the mother of all demos. This was the first computer that had all the components required for a computer to function on its own. It was a functional system that came with a mouse and keyboards. The working of the workstation was similar to that of a normal system. It had icons and menus and the interface of the OS. This model was not sold. Intel also launched the first microprocessor in the market. It was Intel 4004, and it was a great revolution as it was used in the computer to perform processing tasks and drastically reduced the size and cost of building the computer.

The First Personal Computer

The term personal computer was coined when Ed Roberts introduced the Altair 8800 in the market. The first personal computer estimated about $750. It was the KENBAK-1 that took input and produced the out by using switches. There were a series of switches on the computer. The input was recorded, and the output was produced using turning on and off the lights using the switches.

A Vietnamese-French Engineer built the first microcomputer. His name was Andre Troung Thi. It was launched in 1973, and the model's name was Micral Computer. The cost of the model was $1750. It had Intel 8008 embedded in it.

The First Portable Computer

IBM launched the first portable system. It had a 1.9 Megahertz palm processor and a 5-inch cathode ray tube display. The computer came with a 64 KB RAM and a tape drive. The weight of the system was 55 pounds.

The Adam Osborne Company launched the Osborne. It was the first laptop on the market. It enabled the user to perform all the necessary tasks. It had two floppy drives. It provided a 5-inch display with 64 KB memory. The cost of this model was $1795. The weight of Osborne I was considerably very less than any of the predecessors. It weighed about 24 pounds.

IBM also launched the IBM portable, developed by the IBM PC Division, in 1984. the weight was about 30 pounds. Later, the company introduced a PC Convertible Computer, the first laptop computer that only weighed 12 pounds. It finally led to the development of the first notebook, the IBM ThinkPad 775CD. It was launched in 1994 by the company.

The first Apple Computer

Apple launched Apple I in 1976. It was a complete computer kit that was sold for about $666. This kit had a fully assembled circuit board. The system had a 6502 8-bit processor. It had inbuilt 4 KB memory that could be extended up to 48 KB. The user required a display, keyboard and power supply to operate the kit.